Look up the word geek in the dictionary and you might come across this description:
an unfashionable or socially inept person.
Use a thesaurus and find an alternative word to Geek:
- buffoon
- freak
- nerd
- weirdo
- dolt
- dork
- goon
- guru
- techie
- computer specialist
Why is the word geek used in such a negative way? I'm proud of being a geek, I have passions and hobbies and that makes me excited and if that makes me a geek, then so be it.
But why, when I was growing up, was I called a geek by bullies?
I was ridiculed for liking comics, video games, being a girl, being clever, liking unusual things and not necessarily following the herd when it came to trends. Being a geek growing up wasn’t exactly a good time for me, but I stuck with it and that made me the person I am today.
Too often I see people tease and torment people who have passions and hobbies that don’t follow the norm. Love to go LARPing or play Dungeons and Dragons? That is amazing, because the amount of effort that goes into creating characters, costumes and weapons is incredible, the level of detail is impressive.
Love to read and draw fanart? That’s also amazing, because I can not for the life of me, draw people and there are some INCREDIBLE artists out there who have taken their love for drawing and turned it into a successful business without losing their passions.
Despite current trends including Dungeons and dragons being so very cool (thanks to the likes of Stranger Things and Critical Role) being a geek can still be seen as a negative thing and that’s definitely not cool.
Originally coined in the early twentieth century, the word Geek was used to describe a carnival worker who lacked any skill to be useful, in other words, a socially undesirable person who lacked any skill or ability.
Nowadays a geek is used to describe someone who is a fan of something, nerd being someone who is very much focused on the techie aspect of how things work.
But even so, these words can have negative connotations. When you think Geek or
Nerd you see someone dressed in very ill-fitting clothes, wearing glasses, carrying lots of books and being good at maths. And for some reason that’s a BAD thing. I will happily admit that I love to wear loose fitting clothes, wear glasses LOVE books and can just about do maths (current home-schooling conditions proved I had dig deeeeeeeep to remember how to do fractions…).
It's one of the reasons I started Mini Geek Boutique, being a geek is more than just comics and video games. It’s about enjoying and loving something enough to get excited about it. Admittedly, that excitement can come across as a little weird but really, it’s not hurting anyone, and if it makes that person happy why be discouraging about it?
I am going to be doing a series of blog posts that I hope to educate and inform about what being a geek and how cool it is. There is more to being a geek than just computer programming and complicated maths.